The Great Resignation Transitions to The Great Reinvention
We’ve received a few inquiries about what the heck is happening in the job market these days?!?
The answer is, a lot.
You’ve probably grown tired of hearing about The Great Resignation, the time period during the height of Covid where it seemed like everyone was quitting their jobs and it felt impossible to hire anyone. Well, folks, we’ve officially transitioned into The Great Reinvention. The Great Reinvention calls on workplaces to be human-centered, a stark change from previous cultural trends.
Yes, everything you are hearing about how a global pandemic has completely transformed employees’ expectations of work-place culture is mostly true. We’ve talked about it before, and this is likely not a huge surprise to anyone. However, the important thing for you to know is that this is not a fleeting trend, but instead is a lasting change as a result of Covid.
Reinvention is a more appropriate way to describe the cultural changes occurring in workplaces across all sectors.
People want more from their jobs—and they aren’t settling for less, which has resulted in a challenging hiring market for workplaces that haven’t significantly shifted the way they hire and the way they do business. The truth is that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ job openings and labor turnover report from April 2022, there are more job openings than there are unemployed people--- the difference is about 5.4 million more jobs than people.
I’ve been explaining it to clients by comparing it to the real estate market. Right now we are in a “job seekers” market – which means that since there are more jobs than people who need jobs, it’s in the best interest of employers and workplaces to market themselves to job seekers.
Here are some examples of the framework that we are currently helping clients shift to so they can retain and hire superstar employees:
Flexibility that allows for true balance that doesn’t result is work always being the number one priority
Wellbeing and Mental Health which calls for compassionate leaders who make space for people to take care of themselves
An increased effort to share the culture during recruitment and hiring, you need to sell yourself if you want to have a quality candidate pool
This may seem like a lot of work, especially when you may already be understaffed, which we get. However, this is a place where investing time and energy is a strategic choice - you don’t want to be left behind. At the end of the day, in all sectors, we depend on the people to make sure the work gets done well, and now we have to center people in all that we do.
If you would like support in moving towards being people-centered in your workplace, we are here for you. Contact us to set up a time to discuss how we may help.